David Ropeik
@dropeik.bsky.social
retired Harvard Instructor in the psychology of risk perception, author, potter
THIS JUST IN! The news media do not report on the causes of death in proportion to what actually kills us!
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...
Does the news reflect what we die from?
What do Americans die from, and what do the New York Times, Washington Post, and Fox News report on?
ourworldindata.org
November 20, 2025 at 5:03 PM
THIS JUST IN! The news media do not report on the causes of death in proportion to what actually kills us!
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...
THIS is the way risk SHOULD be reported. Bravo Debby Koenig
www.webmd.com/diet/news/20...
www.webmd.com/diet/news/20...
The 'Boogeyman' in Our Food: Fears vs. Facts About Lead
High blood levels of lead can be harmful, and recent headlines suggest the heavy metal has gotten ingo our food supply. Knowledge is your best defense – here's what the science and the experts say.
www.webmd.com
October 31, 2025 at 7:49 PM
THIS is the way risk SHOULD be reported. Bravo Debby Koenig
www.webmd.com/diet/news/20...
www.webmd.com/diet/news/20...
Dear Right Wing extremists (that's you, White House)
Understandable you're upset by left-wing violence, but (from the Economist
Understandable you're upset by left-wing violence, but (from the Economist
September 16, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Dear Right Wing extremists (that's you, White House)
Understandable you're upset by left-wing violence, but (from the Economist
Understandable you're upset by left-wing violence, but (from the Economist
Spot-on insight, and a challenge to The 1619 Project thinking. CLASS divisions are at the core of what is tearing us all apart. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/o...
Opinion | America’s New Segregation
www.nytimes.com
August 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Spot-on insight, and a challenge to The 1619 Project thinking. CLASS divisions are at the core of what is tearing us all apart. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/o...
Sen/Dr Bill Cassidy, R.LA, OKing RFK Jr for HHS Sec. "I practiced medicine for 30 years...After seeing patients die from vaccine preventable diseases...witnessing the safety monitoring, and the effectiveness of immunization...simply, vaccines save lives.
The deaths to come now are on YOU, Doctor.
The deaths to come now are on YOU, Doctor.
August 6, 2025 at 2:30 AM
Sen/Dr Bill Cassidy, R.LA, OKing RFK Jr for HHS Sec. "I practiced medicine for 30 years...After seeing patients die from vaccine preventable diseases...witnessing the safety monitoring, and the effectiveness of immunization...simply, vaccines save lives.
The deaths to come now are on YOU, Doctor.
The deaths to come now are on YOU, Doctor.
Simply saying people are tribal isn't enough. Being true to our tribe is biologically tied to our survival instinct. Any challenge to your tribe, or disloyalty to your tribe, sets off a Fight or Flight response. It's autonomic, WAY more powerful than reason
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-...
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-...
Tribalism Overwhelms Reason Because It Keeps Us Safe
Many have noted that we are getting more tribal. But few have recognized how our instinctive need for belonging to a tribe stems from the most basic instinct of all: survival.
www.psychologytoday.com
July 22, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Simply saying people are tribal isn't enough. Being true to our tribe is biologically tied to our survival instinct. Any challenge to your tribe, or disloyalty to your tribe, sets off a Fight or Flight response. It's autonomic, WAY more powerful than reason
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-...
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/how-...
@hern.bsky.social Re: Is AI making us dumber. May be interesting to know that the ease of AI appeals directly to the brain's instinct to work no harder than necessary, evolved since the brain uses more calories than any other organ and back in the day food was no sure thing. @eaterofsun.bsky.social
July 17, 2025 at 12:23 AM
@hern.bsky.social Re: Is AI making us dumber. May be interesting to know that the ease of AI appeals directly to the brain's instinct to work no harder than necessary, evolved since the brain uses more calories than any other organ and back in the day food was no sure thing. @eaterofsun.bsky.social
As the mindless paranoid witch hunt against the slightest taint of possible disloyalty to a Dictator continues, it patently makes Americans, including those who voted for him and remain loyal, less safe.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/good...
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/good...
Goodbye to All That
My resignation from the FBI.
www.lawfaremedia.org
July 6, 2025 at 1:57 PM
As the mindless paranoid witch hunt against the slightest taint of possible disloyalty to a Dictator continues, it patently makes Americans, including those who voted for him and remain loyal, less safe.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/good...
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/good...
Reposted by David Ropeik
Reposted by David Ropeik
Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪
Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science
These graphics will guide you through science-based vaccine guidelines for children and adults
www.scientificamerican.com
June 25, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪
Word now offers AI options. For kicks I asked for an essay on the psychology of risk perception, about which I've written a ton, including a book. INFURIATINGLY, many of the AI passages are only thinly different from my own language in the book. How is this not outright copyright theft?
June 24, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Word now offers AI options. For kicks I asked for an essay on the psychology of risk perception, about which I've written a ton, including a book. INFURIATINGLY, many of the AI passages are only thinly different from my own language in the book. How is this not outright copyright theft?
Bravo Seth Borenstein. Phenomenal environmental reporting on the prospective death toll from Trump's rollback of enviro regs to please the fossil fuel industry apnews.com/article/epa-...
Trump EPA moves to roll back rules projected to save billions of dollars and thousands of lives
When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year announced a massive rollback of environmental regulations, he said it would spark a “Golden Age” for the American economy.
apnews.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Bravo Seth Borenstein. Phenomenal environmental reporting on the prospective death toll from Trump's rollback of enviro regs to please the fossil fuel industry apnews.com/article/epa-...
@carlzimmer.com thought you might enjoy knowing that I jus saw Airborne for sale in a bookstore in Bucharest!
May 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM
@carlzimmer.com thought you might enjoy knowing that I jus saw Airborne for sale in a bookstore in Bucharest!
GO Fish Hippies. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium capacity of more than 62,000 could host more than Bodo's entire population of roughly 50,000.
Underdog Schmunderdog
COYS
COYS
May 1, 2025 at 3:22 PM
GO Fish Hippies. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium capacity of more than 62,000 could host more than Bodo's entire population of roughly 50,000.
Important caution about a viral risk warning...but missing a HUGE additional caveat. The "RadRat" calculator assumes mutations that lead to cancer from tiny tiny doses, and a growing number of radiation biologists believe at the lowest doses ionizing radiation is NOT carcinogenic at all.
This is smart.
there's another way to look at that scary study on CT scans and cancer. by @gidmk.bsky.social slate.com/technology/2...
April 29, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Important caution about a viral risk warning...but missing a HUGE additional caveat. The "RadRat" calculator assumes mutations that lead to cancer from tiny tiny doses, and a growing number of radiation biologists believe at the lowest doses ionizing radiation is NOT carcinogenic at all.
THIS is the blind bigoted hate of "others" that runs deep in the blood of Donald Trump and Steven Miller and all the despicable people foaming at the mouth, and disregarding basic human decency as well as due process of law, in their lustful targeting of "immigrants. kfor.com/news/local/w...
'We're citizens!': Oklahoma City family traumatized after ICE raids home, but they weren't suspects
A woman says her family’s fresh start in Oklahoma turned into a nightmare after federal immigration agents raided their home, taking their phones, laptops, and life savings – even though they were …
kfor.com
April 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
THIS is the blind bigoted hate of "others" that runs deep in the blood of Donald Trump and Steven Miller and all the despicable people foaming at the mouth, and disregarding basic human decency as well as due process of law, in their lustful targeting of "immigrants. kfor.com/news/local/w...
What alarmist horseshit! And the Times knows it, since they reported that the basis for the "harm" claim came from a study that held the test utensils in boiling oil for 15 MINUTES. Classic example of environmentalists masquerading as scientists to find a new chemical bogeyman.
It’s probably a good idea to ditch your black plastic utensils, since they may expose you to harmful chemicals. Here’s what to use instead.
Black Plastic Kitchen Tools Might Expose You to Toxic Chemicals. Here’s What to Use Instead.
It’s probably a good idea to ditch your black plastic utensils, since they may expose you to harmful chemicals. Here’s what to use instead.
nyti.ms
April 26, 2025 at 1:19 AM
What alarmist horseshit! And the Times knows it, since they reported that the basis for the "harm" claim came from a study that held the test utensils in boiling oil for 15 MINUTES. Classic example of environmentalists masquerading as scientists to find a new chemical bogeyman.
Reposted by David Ropeik
The Trump administration is quite transparently using anti-semitism as a pretext for authoritarian crackdowns on speech & association, and some Jews are saying "no thanks."
Many Jews say Trump is politicizing the fight against antisemitism
Many groups welcome Trump’s focus on fighting bigotry but say his approach is harmful.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 25, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The Trump administration is quite transparently using anti-semitism as a pretext for authoritarian crackdowns on speech & association, and some Jews are saying "no thanks."
The Environmental Working Group is, sadly, among the leading naive proponents of the 'naturalistic fallacy', a Back to the Garden of Eden form of environmentalism that blames pretty much all our ills on human civilization in one way or another. Such absolutism does great great harm.
"Crunchy moms" believe additives/toxins are the source of Americans' health problems.
Here, a crunchy mom makes home-made versions of crap food (Cheez-Its!).
Oy vey. It's the crap food, people! Come on.
@shannonosaka.bsky.social reports
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
Here, a crunchy mom makes home-made versions of crap food (Cheez-Its!).
Oy vey. It's the crap food, people! Come on.
@shannonosaka.bsky.social reports
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...
April 24, 2025 at 4:22 PM
The Environmental Working Group is, sadly, among the leading naive proponents of the 'naturalistic fallacy', a Back to the Garden of Eden form of environmentalism that blames pretty much all our ills on human civilization in one way or another. Such absolutism does great great harm.
Reposted by David Ropeik
Fearing that government information about vaccines & vaccination policy may be corrupted under an anti-vax health secretary, some public health leaders are exploring how to safeguard the enterprise of vaccinations in the United States. www.statnews.com/2025/04/24/v...
Public health leaders, distrustful of RFK Jr., stand up project to defend vaccines
Some key public health figures are taking an extraordinary step to try to shore up U.S. vaccination policy, feared to be under threat from health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
www.statnews.com
April 24, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Fearing that government information about vaccines & vaccination policy may be corrupted under an anti-vax health secretary, some public health leaders are exploring how to safeguard the enterprise of vaccinations in the United States. www.statnews.com/2025/04/24/v...
It's a safe bet that Putin has somne really embarassing compromat on Trump. He fu-king OWNS him. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/w...
Vance Outlines U.S. Plan for Ukraine That Sharply Favors Russia (Gift Article)
Vice President JD Vance said the cease-fire plan would freeze territory along the current front lines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that the U.S. would “walk away” if both parties did not agree.
www.nytimes.com
April 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
It's a safe bet that Putin has somne really embarassing compromat on Trump. He fu-king OWNS him. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/w...
Dear Supreme Court. Fu-k You, Part One.
Despite a court order, the White House bars the AP from Oval Office event apnews.com/live/donald-... apnews.com/live/donald-...
Despite a court order, the White House bars the AP from Oval Office event apnews.com/live/donald-... apnews.com/live/donald-...
Live updates: El Salvador’s president says he won’t release wrongly deported man back to US
President Trump is hosting Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, at the White House. The nation is holding Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported from the U.S.
https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-4-14-2025#00000196-3567-d12b-a7fe-b7ef31690000?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=share <br>Despite
April 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Dear Supreme Court. Fu-k You, Part One.
Despite a court order, the White House bars the AP from Oval Office event apnews.com/live/donald-... apnews.com/live/donald-...
Despite a court order, the White House bars the AP from Oval Office event apnews.com/live/donald-... apnews.com/live/donald-...
The right wing attack on DEI has reached into the NFL. Wrong last name. www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...
Colts cut kicker Gay two years after big contract
The Colts released kicker Matt Gay on Thursday, two years after signing him to a four-year, $22.5 million contract.
www.espn.com
April 10, 2025 at 9:10 PM
The right wing attack on DEI has reached into the NFL. Wrong last name. www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...
One small step for the rule of law
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists apnews.com/article/trum...
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists apnews.com/article/trum...
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists
A federal judge has ordered the White House to restore The Associated Press’ full access to cover presidential events.
apnews.com
April 8, 2025 at 9:42 PM
One small step for the rule of law
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists apnews.com/article/trum...
AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists apnews.com/article/trum...
Are you supporting yourself as an independent worker in the arts or culture, or know someone who is. There is a community of folks like you that share ideas and camaraderie...CARE (confession...my daughter's creation) rachelropeik.com/care
CARE: Consortium of Arts Related Entrepreneurs | Rachel S Ropeik
The Consortium of Arts Related Entrepreneurs (CARE) is a 4-month long community where independent arts and culture workers join together virtually to learn, teach, support each other, and build entrep...
rachelropeik.com
April 6, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Are you supporting yourself as an independent worker in the arts or culture, or know someone who is. There is a community of folks like you that share ideas and camaraderie...CARE (confession...my daughter's creation) rachelropeik.com/care